


Chapter Twenty: Add It Up

by CavalierConvoy



Series: MTMTE Series One: Shoot Straight with a Crooked Gun [21]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers Generation One, Transformers Generation Two, Transformers: Beast Machines, Transformers: Beast Wars
Genre: Alternate Universe, Destroy Ending, Flashbacks, Gen, Other, Talking To Dead People, We're All Gonna Die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-15 22:31:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3464474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CavalierConvoy/pseuds/CavalierConvoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three Maximals and a ghost tamper with a malfunctioning quantum generator and trigger the end of the universe. They kind of saw that coming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chapter Twenty: Add It Up

Day after day  
I get angry and I will say  
That the day is in my sight  
When I take a bow, and say goodnight  
\--["Add It Up"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7y9yChV478) by Violent Femmes, from self-titled debut album

 

Cybertropolis  
Iacon District  
Three Hundred Stels from Now

"You certain about this?" 

_"Well, it isn't like I'm using it now. It's just a hunch — the featherduster's got an idea, but what have I got to lose?"_

"You're the one who didn't want to be remembered as the 'force field guy.'"

_"How'd you do remember that?"_

Pantera cocked her head to one side. "Starscream did mention there was seepage through the quantum generator. Maybe I'm able to access your Artemis's memories?" She shrugged, jostling the hammer on her shoulder.

_"Point. I wish I could be more help."_

"No worries, 'Breaker. You're already a huge help." 

_"Yeah, though I have nothing to lose. But you?"_

She made a _pfft!_ sound. "You have any idea what this world's become? Megatron turned it into a sparkless computer. We don't have a chance in hell. As far as I'm concerned, the only option we have is to start again."

_"You've never been a nihilist. Sarcastic atheist, yes, but never a nihilist."_

"Three hundred stels and burying countless loved ones can change a 'bot."

_"You hadn't always been like that."_

"I can't help but wonder where this branched off."

_"Can't tell you — I'm not a quantum physicist."_

"Sky is — problem is he's not exactly stable." Approaching the large truck, she had a moment of hesitation.

_"What are you thinking about?"_

Not _"What's wrong?"_ He _did_ know her. "If I can prevent this, I'd do it in a spark pulse. I don't think this was the intended path for our race. The Oracle, Vector Sigma ... are they just compensating for what was thrown at them. If we stop Megatron — the one in this timeline — we'll still be facing the problem of the data corruption creating the virus that made us adapt with technorganic shells. If we can stop Megatron from stealing the golden disks, stop the Gigastorm from engaging the Trifecta, find out where things turned to slag — "

_"Go back far enough, Art. You always wanted to fix the universe. And don't take this the wrong way, but you had no problem getting your knuckles bloodied in the process. You did the 'what if', but you accepted what what's done was done. What changed?"_

"Three hundred stels and the burying of countless loved ones," she repeated. "Regret. You said Xaaron was on board; did the Senate collapse?"

_"In the most epic way possible. You and Rod had a part in it, exposing the corruption before it could return to the Functionists. When we left Cybertron, Prowl and Bee were in charge to clean up the mess."_

Pantera gazed at the other vehicles in the bay, the dead crewmates she never knew. "I want to save you, 'Breaker," she stated. "I want to save you and everyone on board this ship. I want to prevent this from happening. This slaughter, the Beast Wars, the High Council that rose from the ashes of the Senate — it all needs to be fixed."

_"I don't think I can stop you if I could. But your friends and family here? What would become of them? They could cease to exist."_

"No. They won't. This universe would keep going. The _Lost Light_ being here proves that. I died on this ship; I died in battle, defending my territory. Total spark collapse; no time for transplant. But here I am, standing in a Maximal shell, trying to take back this world with fraggin' botany because it's the only weapon we can get our hands on." She used the hammer to point to the entrance point. "This universe is fixed; the ship itself is in flux. The others will be safe as so long as we can take care of the generator." 

_"Art, I think the generator's affecting you."_

"Why are you here, 'Breaker? Why are you still lingering? Primal said there were echoes, and he's the one with the spiritual extrasensory perception, but you're conversing with a — "

 _"Stubborn, thick-skulled, quick-to-fists atheist with a self-destructive streak. Paraphrasing one of Ratchet's tear-downs; I threw in the 'atheist' part. You two had a lot in common, now that I think about it."_

Pantera stared through the door of the truck, placing a hand on the surface. "You sure this is okay?"

 _"I'm not using it. It's fine, Art. You're trying to save the world."_ He meant it. _"As to your other question, I don't know why I'm still here. Although I suppose it could be worse; you could be haunted by Whirl."_

"We weren't close; a couple of drinks, a couple of bar fights, a couple of battles, but nothing special." 

_"He was an okay guy once you got past the gasholery."_

"All the comrades I didn't know I had," she muttered, taking hold of the door handle. Like most Autobots who spent days on Earth, Trailbreaker's vehicular mode took consideration of an alternate, much smaller driver. Calling back on her memories with Skyfire — the original Skyfire — she ascertained the instrument panel and tapped what she presumed was a power button. Lights flickered, illuminating the panel and printing out corrupted data on a small diagnostics monitor. The ship had spent time in an open vacuum, which was promising — old energon never had a chance to curdle. Not much left, but enough to do what she needed for a short time. Without a working brain module, she would have to do most of the work manually.

"Need a hand, kitty cat?"

Pantera startled, hitting her head against the cab's ceiling. "For frag's sake, Rattrap!" she snarled, rubbing the bump, "what part of 'go with Primal' do you not understand?!"

Rattrap, reverted to his beast mode, shrugged. "Eh, Shrubs would be better at the stealthy-stealth; this place may be shielded — or whatever — from Megatron's scans, but Iacon ain't. I'd be a target if I was going to do the scanning. So I'm throwing in my chits with the one person who's not completely Junkion-slag crazy." He tapped his index fingers together. "Speaking of which, who are you talking to?"

"They guy I'm trying to hotwire." No use trying to cover up her ticks. "We're going to put a force field around the generator; hopefully that will minimise any impact to the physical and temporal fabric of our existence. We may not have too much power, so I'm going to push and you're going to drive."

"'Drive'?"

"You got two brakes: a hand brake here — " she pointed to the lever by one seat " — and the foot pedal in the middle, here. Hand brake will lock all four tyres; the foot brake, back two. You start feeling him slip, you pull up on the hand brake, but use it sparingly because it will wear out from the weight. Likewise, you don't want to brake too hard with the foot brake, or you'll engage the anti-lock system and that will do us no good. Steering panel — " she placed her hands on either side of the oblong grip before her and twisted the device "—self explanatory."

"One problem," Rattrap pointed out. "I'm about half your height, give or take. How am I gonna see over the dash and operate the foot brake?"

"I'll be calling out orders," Pantera rebutted, slipping out of the cab. "First things first: we need to clear a path to the ramp."

"May I choose now to point out the morbidness of your plan?"

"Duly noted and ignored. We've got a job to — "

The icepick in her brain module returned with a vengeance, stabbing with the velocity of a jackhammer. This time she dropped to her knees, cradling her head as the pain flared.

The sensation of being held down, but not out of restraint. Not completely. Vague awareness of two — no, a third, at her back. None of the holds were out of malice, but were doing their damnedest to keep her from bolting. Why would she bolt?

_"Brat, get the big guy, now! Skids, crowd control! C'mon, boss — pull it together! On your feet — ain't gonna do him any good on your knees. You and I, we'll round up a posse, go out guns a'blazin' and take care of the spawns of glitches who did this — dammit, Brat, stop gawking and get Magnus now!"_

She forced her optics online, fighting the vision, the pain, to match the memory but grasping confusion. The searing headache pulsed with a crushing sense of despair, of great loss. 

_Brat._ That had been Cavalier's Wreckers nickname, stemming from hers and Octane's frenemy banter. It stuck throughout the ranks and turned into a term of endearment for the saboteur. The voice — that was Whirl, but they had never been that familiar for him to have a true respect for anyone. And who was Skids? And why was she in mourning? Not when Magnus was killed, not when Depth Charge sacrificed himself, did she feel such anguish as that moment.

A caress against her helm — no, her fur, brought her back to the present. _"What happened?"_

She took a moment to collect herself, then stood, grasping to make sense of the vision. "Despair. I ... I lost someone."

"It's the generator!" Skyfire — yes, nigh-hysterics and wide, blue optics — exclaimed, running up the ramp. "It's not just affecting our past, or the past of this ship, but other possibilities! Other outcomes! It's crashing every single one of them together — and it's latching onto the oldest spark here! We have to act now — 'Tera, let's go! C'mon, pull yourself together! Please!" 

Pantera pressed both palms into her optics to block out the visual stimuli as she collected her thoughts. Had to get Trailbreaker's shell to the generator room. Had to activate forcefield. Had to trigger the generator. 

There was no room for error.

"Gearboxes in neutral, disengage brakes — we've got to clear a path!" She snarled, gesturing to the vehicles around them. She would not allow herself to dwell on the desecration — no such thing in war. 

_"We're no longer at war, Artemis."_

_"A metaphor? How unlike you, soldier."_

Assaulted by the alien memories, she focused on the task, throwing her shoulder into pushing corpses, three-hundred stels dead, some with rotted tyres, others with twisted axle assemblies, and even those with no wheels whatsoever. The latter, they had to abandon, and navigate the large truck around as best they could.

"Couldn't we use the forcefield to push away the others?" Rattrap whined; with Skyfire tall enough to handle both wheel and brakes, Rattrap took to the top of the vehicle, grasping onto the forcefield cannon.

"Can't waste the energon," Pantera grunted, throwing her shoulder into the tailgate. She caught the glint of a yellow supercar; the style was different, more Cybertronian, than when last she saw it, but Sunstreaker was unmistakable regardless of mods. 

_"You named an Insecticon 'Bob'?"_

_"Well, 'Spike' was my first choice, but I thought it would get confusing."_

There — a spray of energon and other fluids against the bulkhead near the yellow Autobot, the wreckage of an Insecticon scattered around the body.

"Almost to the ramp!" Skyfire shouted. "You're doing great, 'Tera! Two more good pushes and we should be able to ride it out to the generator!"

"Easy for you to — _herk!_ — say! You're not the one — _herk!_ — doing the heavy work!"

_"I swear to Primus, if that's another 'Who's up for a fight?' klaxon, I'm going to kill him."_

_"Before or after you volunteer to help out?"_

The memories assaulting her, there was fondness attached. Warmth. Camaraderie. Feelings she had not felt in a long time. This ship's Artemis had been happy, part of a whole — never in the fringe.

She longed for that. 

The tailgate tipped up; the front hit the ramp. One more push and she jumped up on the roof, taking hold of the forcefield generator on the other side of Rattrap. "Got it, Sky?"

"On it!" he exclaimed as the back tyres caught the ramp, the vehicle picking up speed.

"Hang on, Rattrap!" Pantera shouted; the roll started easy, but the momentum soon reached breakneck speed; Skyfire seldom used the brake, but muscled the wheel around the corners with an expert hand.

"Former _Trifecta_ pilot! No power steering, but we'll manage!" he called out, taking another ramp and, with that, adding more speed.

"Careful, Sky!" Pantera yelled.

"Got it, 'Tera! No worries!" He tapped the brakes, doing little to slow their descent. 

"Kid, you're a little too reckless!" Rattrap scolded.

"I said I've got it!" Skyfire snapped. "Just hold on!" He pumped the brakes, then put his foot down. Slowing, but not stopping, with the smell of burning rubber, before the brakes gave out altogether.

"ABS snapped! The handbrake!" Pantera ordered. "Primusdammit the handbrake!"

She grabbed Rattrap as the truck careened with a spine-shaking screech, tilting on two tyres before settling to a halt in front of the doorway to the generator room.

"Doubt my prowess, why don't you?" Skyfire scoffed, jumping from the driver's seat. "Okay, you two, get the forcefield ready to launch; I'm going to set a timer on the generator, basically flashing its containment core. It should burn itself out in half-a-click; once quantum foam hits reality, it will dissipate — which may do some seriously weird slag within the forcefield, but, in theory, won't affect us at all."

"'In theory'?" Rattrap repeated.

Skyfire shrugged, holding out his hands. "We're dealing with quantum mechanics; anything and everything could happen. At the same time. Welp, nice knowing you, 'Tera. Rattrap, not so much."

"We're slagged," Rattrap stared at Pantera, optics wide. "We're really slagged, aren't we?"

"We're the good guys, Rattrap," Pantera retorted, slipping back into the cab to look over the controls. "We have to do this. Can you give me a brief overview on the forcefield, just so I'm not just pushing buttons?"

"Old school genny like this? Give me a mo'." Rattrap scampered over to the other door and slipped in, studying the instrument panel. "Looks pretty straightforward. We've got power, intensity, and length of time. Let's see if we have a calculator on board. We've got how many of litres of energon available?"

"About five."

"Okay, so we just have to figure out the fuel consumption of the generator — "

_"Two litres a cycle full power, give or take. But that's when it's tuned up. I didn't get a chance to run maintenance the last time, so it's probably going to be less."_

"Three litres a cycle," Pantera guessed. "Let's aim high; if it lasts longer, we can be pleasantly surprised."

"So we have less than two cycles — two hundred clicks. Not much time. Hey, kid! What's your estimated time?"

"Three cycles before meltdown. Let's do it!"

"Did you have to use the word 'meltdown'?" Rattrap whined.

"I think I can handle things from here, Rattrap," Pantera reminded.

"Yeah, well..." Rattrap shrugged. "I wouldn't make it in time, now would I?" 

"Last minute bravery?"

"Are you kidding me? I'd have to hear all about how Sky sacrificed himself for the greater good — might as well add me to the mix, eh?"

"So you have faith this is going to work?"

"You're a survivor, kitty cat. I put my chits in with the survivors."

"Well, that's kind of you to say that," Pantera grumbled. "Because I don't think we're going to survive this time."

"Wait — what?!"

"If you leave now, you may be able to escape the blast pattern. Go, Rattrap. Be a hero some other time."

Rattrap hesitated for only a click before hopping out of the cab. "Eh...you need to survive, 'Tera. We need you."

She smiled, but her face was grim. "Thank you, Rattrap. Go!"

He bolted, skittering around the corner. She counted to ten before shouting, "All right, flyboy — we ready?"

"To potentially destroy the universe? Why the hell not?" Starscream, returning to the surface, threw a switch, and a subaudible thrum resonated through the room. He bolted, running to the truck and jumping into the seat that Rattrap just vacated. "Here's to new beginnings, eh, Arty?"

"Please," she harrumphed. "Give me a count; I don't have much juice yet to hold this at full power."

"You throw the force field, and we get the hell away from here. Just in case we have a chance. Okay?"

She said nothing, only cranked the intensity and time to maximum. One finger to the power button, she waited for the mark.

"Now!" Starscream shouted, bolting out of the truck; striking the button, Pantera did the same, both Maximals reverting to beast mode as they raced through the corridor. There was a loud discharge of energy, the air electrified with the crisp smell of ozone. They caught up with Rattrap; before he could protest, Pantera snatched him in her jaws and threw him onto her back, where the large hammer had been strapped. He grabbed hold of the harness and held on.

An explosion rocked the ship, the concussion blast throwing dead shells against one another in a cacophony of twisting metal and shattering glass.

"We're all gonna die!" Rattrap howled. 

Another blast, knocking Pantera and Rattrap to the ground, encompassing the two; Pantera transformed back to bipedal mode, grabbing Rattrap by the scruff, and lobbed him out of the heat radius before the next wave struck. Going forward, she struck —

— a force field.

"What—?" She whispered, pressing a hand on the field.

_"I'm sorry, Art — I didn't know —"_

"The foam mutated," Starscream hissed, also in bipedal mode. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, Arty — we didn't make it."

"What do you mean, 'we didn't make it'...?" 

Another blast, this time filling her vision with a red haze, before her molecules tore apart.

 

NEXT CHAPTER: Cracking Up


End file.
